The Beauty of Broken (H•S)

Chapter 1: The backdrop

This chapter is dedicated to curlyxhes for giving me the motivation to actually finish it😂
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm a hopeless romantic with a dirty mind"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zoe's POV

We used to be friends. Well sort of. Ha, can you imagine that? Harry I'm-better-than-everyone Styles was my friend. Excuse me while I go empty my stomach contents. You see, that asshole is my neighbour. He lives right next door to me. So close that when they chop onions in their kitchen, our eyes tear up.

When I was 8 we moved from South Africa to London. I didn't have a lot of trouble adjusting with the language because I had English as a home language already but I had trouble understanding some of the expressions. We moved across the globe until right next door to the Styles'. My mum soon befriended Harry's mum, Anne, and then play dates were organised for us. Seriously? Shouldn't it be considered a type of abuse when parents force you to accept people in your life?

Anyways, Harry and I had the play date as well as another few after that. He was quite a nice person but I was not in the right place in my life to be making friends. We moved for a reason. I was diagnosed with depression around that time too.

When we went to high school he changed. He tried fitting in with the "it" crowd and everyone else were seen as peasants in the presence of their royalty. Royal pain in the asses. I was a bit overweight then. Okay, maybe a bit more than a bit. Let's just say walruses were jealous of my physique. This was also due to the reason why we moved. I'm an emotional eater and that was the problem. Harry and his new crowd made sure to remind me of my physical form on a regular basis. I could sometimes see regret flash in his eyes in the beginning but then it was quickly replaced with his evil little smirk. And soon the flash of regret didn't make an appearance at all.

He is a year older than me but we were in the same grade because he didn't attend school for a year in his grade 10 year. Don't ask me why, I'm not friends with him so I wouldn't know. After everything that happened in high school I was still depressed. I don't know how I expect people to love me if I can barely look at my reflection without cringing. I didn't love myself. But a day arrived when I decided to change my appearance. I was home schooled for my last year of high school because my mum wanted to keep an eye on me. In that year I worked out a lot, I ate right and soon people were treating me differently. Guys' eyes would linger a bit too long on me in the supermarket, girls actually turned out to be more bitchy and I felt a bit better in general. I was healthy and sleeping a lot better but even though the world saw me differently, I was still looking at myself through the same eyes. My eyes.

I hated the fact that I've accomplished what I wanted to regarding my physical appearance but it didn't fix anything for me. So I started resenting the world. I resented him for doing what he did to me and causing my insecurities. I resented Harry for reminding me of the insecurities that he caused, but most of all I resented myself for thinking I could be worth more than just me.

This resentment fueled me to work out even more until I was toned and tight everywhere, no flab in sight. Yet I still felt awful. I kept my mind off of everything through art, exercise and reading. Music was also a great escape. Turning the music volume up meant the noise of the world, and more importantly, the noise in my head was silenced.

In this last year of high school, Harry was the last thing on my mind. But this year, when I went to college, there he was. Mr big shot in tight black jeans, a white v-neck and a leather jacket standing oh-so-smugly next to a motorbike.

My first day of the rest of my life was just ruined. He takes his helmet off and shakes out his chocolate brown curls that form ringlets at the bottom, before raking his fingers through them. I hate the fact that I'm jealous of his hair. How is it so shiny and luscious? It would probably feel amazing between my fingers....Wait no, not amazing, disgusting. I meant to say disgusting.

He proceeds to put his helmet down and retrieves his Ray Bans. A group of girls walk past him and they not so subtly try to get his attention as they try to shyly giggle. They fail miserably at the giggling part because it sounds more like squeals. They are actually squealing at him. He puts his Ray Bans on and shoots a dimpled smirk their way. They blush fiercely and his smirk is replaced by a smug grin. He knows his effects on the female species. He makes them weak in the knees and wet between the legs. Every single one of them. All except me. I know the devil behind his devilish smirk, the darkness behind the dark prince. I know that Harry exists only to please himself and little Harry, if you know what I mean. Those girls will probably be thinking about his smile for the rest of their miserable little day. Poor things don't have a life outside of being slūts. Shame.

He takes his leather jacket off, seeing as it's very hot outside. He's wearing a white wife beater shirt and the dark ink covering his skin stands out. His taut tanned skin really contrasting against the white. When the sun hits him right, you can see the lines of muscles on his arms.

He surveys the campus, checking out his turf. He is the alpha male in this place. Everyone knows him, knows about him and everyone knows what he looks like. Some more than others, if you catch my drift. *cough* Little Harry's fan club *cough*. His gaze is serious as his eyes scan his territory, they find mine and I look away quickly. Well that was awkward. His eyes turn from serious to smug as his face splits into a wide grin. I start walking away chanting to myself ,"please don't follow me, please don't follow me, please..."

"Sorry, but I followed you," I hear a cheeky, raspy British voice from right behind me. With a scowl on my face I turn around and face his smug expression.

"Harry," I nod in greeting as I fold my arms in front of my chest, trying to give him attitude. His eyes follow my arms and land on my breasts. He licks his bottom lip before before biting down on it. I clear my throat and his eyes snap towards mine. His cheeks tinge pink for a moment before his shyness is replaced by his ego once again.

"Good morning, Zoe. How are you doing?"

"Well, I was doing great until I saw you. Now I just wish I didn't own eyeballs," I reply slyly.

He smiles like he often does when we banter. Well that's what he called it, I would call it a waste of my time talking to a manwhore. I guess it's a matter of opinion.

"Ouch, Princess. Why must you bruise my ego so badly?"

I laugh incredulously. "Like that's possible," I state, "Your ego is so big, there isn't enough room for it on planet earth."

"I thought we were talking about my ego, not my dïck?" He looks confused before smiling smugly.

I just roll my eyes, "Bye, Harry."

"See you in art class, Princess, " he winks and leaves.

He is such a flirt! He strolls away and my eyes follow the movement of his back muscles moving deliciously under his shirt. I shake my head to rid of talk here thoughts and head to class.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N
Let me know what you think.
Do you want more?